I think that Sam Fuller’s work can never get enough recommendation. Sure, a Fuller film is the sort of Hollywood film liable to put off anyone with a congenital aversion to action genres, sensationalist tone, and a hyper-masculinist milieu that flies in the face of serious drama and liberal politics. In fact, after initial early successes, his films were looked down upon by industry and audiences alike, and Fuller was exiled to B film territory until his rediscovery by the French New Wave. But during the 50s and 60s, no American director captured the artistry in the pulp quite like he did. His tracking shots were elaborate and expressive, yet he also applied a near-intellectual montage that leant complexity to the seemingly retrograde racial politics that dominated thematically.
Slowly, forgotten works are being re-released. I’ve already written about the restored Big Red One; now, the Harvard Film Archive is showing Verboten and Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street next Saturday, July 9. And his 1955 noir-ish House of Bamboo has just seen its DVD release.
House of Bamboo may not be the Fuller film for beginners (try Naked Kiss instead). Its plot development and pacing is uneven, even plodding at times. And whereas Fuller has a longstanding, complex fascination with the Far East — witness China Gate or Crimson Kimono — here the Orientalist stereotypes are fairly straightforward and uncomplicated. But for all the faults, there are some terrific, quintessential Fuller moments: the initial ambush in the snow, the crashing of a screen wall to reveal the gang for the first time, the homosocial bathtub death scene in which Robert Ryan keeps stroking his No.2 man’s forehead. And like Underworld, U.S.A., the payoff is at the end, where perfectly paced montage and controlled camera movements build up to a visual metaphor worthy of White Heat of the Big Clock.
Radical montage
Throughout, the Technicolor and widescreen cinematography is at times wonderful. On one hand, the Technicolor plays up the exoticism of the East, with garish colors and elaborate mise-en-scene; at other times, though, the tone is quite realist, a breath of fresh air for any film set in postwar Japan.
Color: realism…
… and spectacle
My biggest complaint is that Cinemascope hemmed in photographers to a medium-shot or longer, and the lack of expressive close-ups is palpable here. Mind you, watching this on the small screen may be the problem.
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